literaturefandomcom-20200223-history
J.R.R. Tolkien
"The mind that thought of light, heavy, grey, yellow, still, swift also conceived of magic that would make heavy things light and able to fly, turn grey lead into yellow gold, and the still rock into swift water. If it could do the one, it could do the other; it inevitably did both. When we have taken green from the grass, blue from heaven, and red from blood, we have already an enchanter's power." - Essay, ''On Fairy Stories, 1939'' John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (January 3, 1892 - September 2, 1973) was a South African-born British author. He grew up in the English countryside, but was forced to move to the city in his early teens. Graduating from Oxford, he was fascinated by language, translating old texts and devising his own languages, and later creating a fantasy world for them. He is most well-known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and for creating the Middle-earth legendarium. He also wrote many other books and essays, very few of which were published in his lifetime. Many of his books and writings were later published posthumously by his son, Christopher Tolkien. By many, J.R.R.Tolkien is considered the father of modern fantasy. He has influenced many authors with his works, especially those who write in the fantasy genre. Legendarium The term "legendarium" is commonly used as a convenient name to encompass Tolkien's fantasy writings set in the fictional universe of Arda, in which Middle-earth is a continent. It has a long and rich history spanning thousands of years, with an array of races, nations, and cultures. The first stories of the legendarium were written down around the time of World War I, and Tolkien continued to work on it until his death. The larger part of his work was never published during his lifetime, although his son has since worked to publish his texts, either in books compiled and edited into a single narrative (The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin) or in books collecting the original texts, essays and fragments (Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth). Notable also are Tolkien's constructed languages. He had a longstanding passion for languages since he was a child, learning many and even creating new ones. Tolkien always stated that the passion for creating languages had come first, and that the desire for creation of a world for them had come after. This is can often be seen in the names of the places and the characters in his world. In the fictional world of Arda a great many languages are used or referred to, ranging from those with only a few names to those with a grammar and rudimentary vocabulary, to some which are more complete. The two most developed languages, Quenya and Sindarin, feature the most in Tolkien's works and are also the most well known of his constructed languages. Works Middle-earth Legendarium *''The Hobbit'' (1937) *''The Lord of the Rings'' (1954-1955), originally divided into 3 volumes and split into 2 books each **''The Fellowship of the Ring'' **''The Two Towers'' **''The Return of the King'' *''The Silmarillion'' (posthumous, 1977) *''Unfinished Tales'' (posthumous, 1980) *''The History of Middle-earth'' (posthumous) **1.The Book of Lost Tales 1 (1983) **2. The Book of Lost Tales 2 (1984) **3. The Lays of Beleriand (1985) **4. The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986) **5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987) **6. The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.1) (1988) **7. The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.2) (1989) **8. The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.3) (1990) **9. Sauron Defeated (includes The History of The Lord of the Rings v.4) (1992) **10. Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion v.1) (1993) **11. The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v.2) (1994) **12. The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996) *''The Children of Húrin (posthumous, 2007)'' *''Beren and Lúthien (posthumous, June 1, 2017) *The Fall of Gondolin'' (posthumous, announced to be released on August 30, 2018) Other *''Farmer Giles of Ham'' (1949) *''Smith of Wootton Major'' (1967) *''Father Christmas Letters'' (written 1920-1942, published 1976) *''Mr. Bliss'' (posthumous, 1982) *''Roverandom'' (submitted 1936, published 1998) *''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' (translation) Trivia *Tolkien was good friends with the author C.S. Lewis. They both belonged to a group of English writers who called themselves the Inklings and met regularly at a pub called the Eagle and Child - but more affectionately known as "The Bird and the Baby" - where they would all take turns reading portions of their works aloud and critiquing each other's writing. *Before the Inklings, Tolkien started and belonged to another group called the Coalbiters. The group's main purpose was to read and talk about old Icelandic sagas. It is believed that C.S.Lewis was also part of this group. *One of the writers that influenced Tolkien was George Macdonald, a Scottish fantasy author. *Tolkien was said to have aided Lewis in his conversion to Christianity. *Tolkien created over twenty languages by himself. Many of those languages were unpublished, and some have not even been translated! *He contributed to the Oxford Dictionary by defining all the words starting with 'Q'. External links *Official website of the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien. *J.R.R. Tolkien on the Lord of the Rings wiki. *Quotations by and about J.R.R. Tolkien on Wikiquote. de:J. R. R. Tolkien es:J.R.R. Tolkien fr:J.R.R. Tolkien pl:John Ronald Reuel Tolkien ru:Джон Рональд Руэл Толкин Category:Fantasy Authors Category:Childrens Authors Category:Poets Category:Essayists Category:Christian Fiction Authors Category:Fiction Authors